Are you on a spiritual journey? Devout Christians always ask me, “Why don’t you believe in God?” Then I ask them to “Define God.” Afterward, I assure them that I do, in fact, believe in God. But I interpret God differently than they do.
Like many spiritualists I’ve known, I grasp the broader sense of spirituality, though I don’t always know how to apply it in daily life. Like many, I often told myself that sometime in the future I’d set aside time to really embark on a spiritual journey and fully comprehend it.
During the past few years, however, I’ve come to understand that spirituality is a daily experience; one that we can engage in during the simplest routines of our day.
While now living in India, the land of many religions, I came across a column in The Times of India newspaper called “The Speaking Tree.” During my stay in India, from time to time, I’ll relay some of the ideas from that column [by P. Raymond Stewart].
Today he led off with “Pride is the trademark of ego. True humility is the spiritual trademark of tto own or accomplish anything as a separate person personallything as a separate person, since all comes from the omniscience and omnipotence of the One Self.”
He goes on to talk about being humble in all things, and thus removing ego from our lives, which in turn dissolves all boundaries. Interesting notion. While ego, in and of itself, seems to fuel our personal drive, he suggests it also blocks our path.
I’ll have to think more about that. What do you think?
Later in the column, he goes on to say that “The limited self-image created by the ego is what needs to dissolve for the OneSelf to be experienced. In stillness, we become aware of our inner presence, which may feel personal but is universal. John is not the One God, yet the One God is within John. For ‘I am the way,’ not ‘you are the way.’
Who you think you are, and your efforts to maintain and enhance that, are exactly what keep you from experiencing what you really are—which is already perfect and complete. This message is difficult to spread. Because the humble — if they choose to speak at all — do not speak loudly, they are not often heard. “
Later in the column, he quotes Sai Bab, who noted that “He who is least in ego is most in spirit.”
Exercise: For the next few days, pay close attention to where ego plays a part in your actions.
